金平糖・Konpe’ito’u

We receive konpe’ito’u as a gift quite often. The name “konpe’ito’u” comes from the Portuguese word confeito. It is widely believed that it was brought to Japan in the mid-16th century as part of trades with the West.

金平糖を作るには様々な設備や砂糖の精製技術が必要で、その上砂糖を大量に使うため当時は大変貴重で高価な物だったそうです。

To produce konpe’ito’u, it was necessary to have various equipment, as well as the technique to refine sugar. Also, it required a large quantity of sugar. Thus in those days konpe’ito’u was very very rare and expensive.

By the way, in Tsaikovski’s “The Nutcracker” suite, there is a piece called “Danse de la Fée Dragée” (Dance of the Fairy of Dragée). Because “dragée” was not well-known in Japan, it was translated as Dance of the Fairy of Konpe’ito’u. For a similar reason, in English, the most common translation is: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

These are not konpe’ito’u, but are included because they were too pretty to pass up…. These are from Nijo’u Wakasaya – a shop in Kyoto, and are a part of the box set called “Colors of Kyoto” (Kyo-no-iro) summer version.